The Thursday release date is mostly just to not release on public holidays

The Raid Release Schedule is as follows: - Raids will not open for about two and a half weeks- Normal and Heroic High Maul after two and a half weeks - 2nd December 2014 in the US, 3rd in the EU- Mythic and LFR High Maul a week later - 9th December 2014 in the US, 10th in the EU- Several weeks later the second raid will open

Grommash has been the end boss since BlizzCon - the Grommash fight is completely different to the Garrosh fight. There will definitely be more than just Orcs.

Garrisons will give you very occasional access to raid-level loot you wouldn't otherwise have access to.

It's likely there will be other legendaries available outside the main ring questline - but these are not finalized yet.

Challenge Mode Golds will reward weapons, and Challenge Modes will drop LFR-level loot. Players can gear up with this loot before the raids are even released.

There is the potential for several new dungeons through the course of the expansion

Mists of Pandaria goes on Sale

Mists of Pandaria has gone on what is likely a permanent sale!

Blizzard

Unlock the mysteries of the lost continent and discover the dark secrets of Pandaria’s past. Explore ancient kingdoms hidden since before the Sundering, plunder vast treasures from the depths of forgotten vaults, and rise to defend Pandaria from the shadow of a long-buried evil—now for only €9.99 or £7.99. What are you waiting for? Download now from the Battle.net Shop.

Warlords of Draenor Collector's Edition

Blizzard revelaed the Collector's Edition content yesterday, as well as informing players via Twitter that the Card Back would be added to the Digital Deluxe Edition!

Blizzard

Want to level up your Warlords of Draenor experience? Take a look inside the Collector’s Edition, which contains a host of rare and commemorative items to aid your epic struggle against the might of the Iron Horde.

Check with your local retailer for additional details and availability—and if you’re hoping to score a copy, be sure to lock in your preorder soon, because supplies are limited.

The Warlords of Draenor Collector’s Edition includes:

World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor — Get the full version of Warlords of Draenor on DVD-ROM.

Behind-the-Scenes DVD and Blu-ray Two-Disc Set — Meet the development team behind the creation of Draenor and its savage warlords. This two-disc set includes over an hour of creators’ commentary, insider interviews, and developer roundtables.

Collector’s Edition Soundtrack — Immerse yourself in the sounds of war with the complete Warlords of Draenor orchestral soundtrack on CD.

The Art of Warlords of Draenor — Witness the visual evolution of the expansion in this beautifully bound tome of exclusive Warlord of Draenor art. Through 160 pages of concept pieces, finished illustrations, and CG images, you'll delve into the art team’s vision for a Draenor under siege by the apocalyptic threat of the Iron Horde.

World of Warcraft Dread Raven Mount and Dread Hatchling Pet — Descend from the skies on the back of a black-winged Dread Raven mount, a mortal progeny of Anzu. Then devour your prey in your next pet battle with the adorably ferocious Dread Hatchling.

StarCraft II Portraits — Summon the strength of two deadly Iron Horde war chiefs—Grommash Hellscream and Blackhand—as you take on the Dominion with these two StarCraft II portraits.

Diablo III Warsong Pennant — Don this battle-worn pennant and channel the rage of the Warsong Clan against the demonic forces of Sanctuary.

Hearthstone Card Back — Your adventures in Draenor will be the talk of the tavern after outfitting your champion’s deck with this custom card back forged in the fires of Blackrock.

Remember, one character boost to level 90 is included in the Collector’s Edition, retail and digital standard editions, and Digital Deluxe Edition of the Warlords of Draenor expansion. For more information on the content and features, check out our Warlords of Draenor web page.

Images from Cinematic Reveal

Olivia was at the cinematic reveal yesterday, and gave out hundreds of Wowhead wristbands to people waiting in the queue! She took some photos of the wristband wearers, and of the event itself.

Comment by Dextar

I'm not going to lie, this release schedule makes me EXTREMELY happy as a student. Finals should be done the week Mythic opens!

Comment by Illi1980

on 2014-08-15T11:41:03-05:00

After much disappointment in hearing about grommash being a raid boss, I have decided that I over reacted. I love this game always have always will and another Orc boss will not stop me from playing :-)

I love my toons and I like being in a great guild.

Comment by Maxwelldemonic

on 2014-08-15T11:52:28-05:00

I'm still not happy with the "legendary ring for everyone" idea, but I'm glad to hear there might be some old-fashioned legendaries this xpac.

Comment by Aerozia

on 2014-08-15T12:12:17-05:00

so no word on the MC lfr? is that included with the "LFRs" he talked about? idgaf who the end boss is, it could be gamon for all i care, i dont care about legendaries, mythic raiding, I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MC!

Comment by rinkworks

on 2014-08-15T12:32:09-05:00

The outcry over a legendary ring is bizarre. It's not exactly unprecedented in epic fantasy, right? Any player of Angband knows how many legendary weapons there are in Middle Earth, but ultimately it's all about the rings. I know, Azeroth isn't Middle Earth (except it kinda is).

I think it was a genius move to make it an item slot that doesn't completely invalidate one sixteenth of all raid drops.

Comment by Aethrios

on 2014-08-15T12:37:13-05:00

I'll be really curious to see if, in order to keep this idea alive, they move to a legendary trinket next time.

Comment by Adamsm

on 2014-08-15T12:38:00-05:00

Wonder when that Hearthstone backing will be updated for those of who have already pre-ordered the expac?

Comment by Jhiaxuz

on 2014-08-15T12:43:31-05:00

I'll play Warlords, I'll just shut off the part of my brain which tries to make sense when it comes the time to fight another Hellscream who likely rendered the awesome introduction video moot by drinking some mountain dew.

Can't escape that fate but this would sting a little less if we weren't going to be 14 months in to SoO.

Comment by runtimemess

on 2014-08-15T13:53:38-05:00

"Limited quanities" of the Collector's Edition....Tell that to my local game shops that have Cata and MoP Collector's Editions sitting on the back counter for $80

Comment by RaneMstSage

on 2014-08-15T13:56:53-05:00

"Limited quanities" of the Collector's Edition....Tell that to my local game shops that have Cata and MoP Collector's Editions sitting on the back counter for $80

That's because what come's with the collectors editions anymore (box edition) isn't that interesting. I will save time like many others just get the digital deluxe same thing I just don't get the art books and dvd's which would be just sitting there doing nothing. I think many others feel the same but I could be wrong.

Comment by BosephHeyden

on 2014-08-15T14:03:27-05:00

So long as the legendary ring isn't the only legendary and the rest aren't obtainable for LFR-exclusive players (or, at the very least, if this is the only legendary, then it is not obtainable to LFR-exclusives), there's no real problem.

Comment by Interest

on 2014-08-15T14:09:44-05:00

Wonder when that Hearthstone backing will be updated for those of who have already pre-ordered the expac?

Could be updated on release day...Might also get some extra goodies like bonus packs a la Reaper of Souls-related things.

Also darn. Could've used the Mists sale a couple weeks ago. Oh well - not much reason to try to get a price cut.

Comment by mathiaslindberg

on 2014-08-15T14:11:45-05:00

"Moving your Garrison is still something that would be nice to do in a content patch. Players will most likely want the ability to move the garrison after they have had it in the same place for a few months."

HE HAS RISEN!

Comment by rinkworks

on 2014-08-15T14:32:43-05:00

So long as the legendary ring isn't the only legendary and the rest aren't obtainable for LFR-exclusive players (or, at the very least, if this is the only legendary, then it is not obtainable to LFR-exclusives), there's no real problem.

There's no problem anyway. Seriously, why some people can't feel validated in this game unless they're special snowflakes is beyond me.

I don't care how many people get something, as long as I get mine too.

Comment by Obfuscation

on 2014-08-15T15:31:01-05:00

So long as the legendary ring isn't the only legendary and the rest aren't obtainable for LFR-exclusive players (or, at the very least, if this is the only legendary, then it is not obtainable to LFR-exclusives), there's no real problem.

There's no problem anyway. Seriously, why some people can't feel validated in this game unless they're special snowflakes is beyond me.

I don't care how many people get something, as long as I get mine too.

That's kinda the thing though--it's cool because you don't get one, and I don't either. Maybe there are a couple of people on your server who have a particular legendary weapon or something and you know them by name. People are like "I hear got ." That's like... the stuff of legends. When everyone gets one, it stops being legendary and starts just being another ilevel.

Comment by Alasdaer

on 2014-08-15T15:47:34-05:00

So the endfight won't be just another fight against an orc... let me predict something. He is the final boss, so we've dealt with the other warlords. Which means he is alone and overpowered by our raid. He will drink the demon blood for sure and since Mannoroth is dead another demon will have to give his blood - maybe a major Eredar lord? This will make Grom even mightier than in our timeline. Plus there will be plenty demons to deal with in that encounter.

It's long shot but as far as I have seen we deal already with two warlords in the first to raids. Gul'dan and Durotan don't belong to the Iron Horde which means Ner'zhul and Killrog are the only major leaders left. We're through with the warlords after the first content patch. So expect a major plot twist, something like Gul'dan offering once more the aid of the Legion to Grom and then we'll get a Legion content patch to get away from the usual orc- and ogre-slaying.

And there's the option of the Lich King. I think Ner'zhul will just be raid boss, no major plot for him. Maybe Grom becomes Lich King and raises some warlords including Garrosh and we get some revamped undead warlords.

Overall I don't expect to be to surprised. Looks very predictable to me, like the cinematic.

Comment by darkelemental1

on 2014-08-15T15:57:26-05:00

I predict that Grom will stay uncorrupted by any source of demon or elder god. If anything he will be the antithesis to the Garrosh fight full of corruption and madness. I predict a well built strategy that makes his fight hard, not just absorbing more power from some source.

Comment by Hollay

on 2014-08-15T17:12:41-05:00

So this Garrison we are gonna use to take down the iron horde... will that somehow be used in the raids (against Grom.) cuz. u know, he got a legion D: and you said it wont be like the Garrosh fight and this would be for the RTS aspect? i must say i hope for this :D

Comment by BosephHeyden

on 2014-08-15T17:17:07-05:00

That's kinda the thing though--it's cool because you don't get one, and I don't either. Maybe there are a couple of people on your server who have a particular legendary weapon or something and you know them by name. People are like "I hear got ." That's like... the stuff of legends. When everyone gets one, it stops being legendary and starts just being another ilevel.

Exactly. The cape, for example, and all the gems that went along with it, was a bit infuriating. My rogue didn't get Fangs of the Father or any part of the Deathwing legendary simply because I didn't have a raid guild. I rectified that problem and made a commitment to a raid guild immediately for MoP so I could get access to the legendaries. And I did. But it was annoying that they pretty much kept LFR on the same exact level as regular raiders, so all of a sudden you'd see almost everyone on the server with a Sha-Touched gemmed weapon.

That was beneficial for the second part because a lot of people needed the same quest around the same time for the garrison bosses, but once we got to the Thunder King portion...figuring out the hydra boss and figuring out Hexos and getting all these bosses down...that was a lot of hard work that LFR-exclusive players didn't have to do, and it was a bit insulting that some of them were finishing the chain before actual raiders because of bad luck for Secrets and Runestones.

The worst part was getting to the actual Legendary portion of it all, getting the cloak, but before handing it in getting whispered by members of a social guild that never raided outside of LFR that wanted me to wait a while before turning in the quest because they thought people turning in the quest might remove the image of their guy for the top of the MSV area and they weren't quite done taking pictures yet (and that guild seemed to disappear very quickly).

If the ring is it, wipe LFR from the conversation and make people put in actual work for the item that they don't need.